


Spurned Love

by chello_8893



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: F/F, F/M, I hate myself for these AUs too don't worry, M/M, have some angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-12
Updated: 2017-11-11
Packaged: 2019-02-01 04:04:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12696963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chello_8893/pseuds/chello_8893
Summary: Sometimes you hurt the people you love in order to give them a better life. No matter how tightly you want to hold onto them, you know letting go is the only option.Although Gajeel chose to part ways with Levy, reuniting with her several years later makes him regret everything. She is the love of his life; the woman he wants more than anything.The only woman he can't have.





	Spurned Love

_“Do you love me?” The voice rang clear through my mind. Pleading. Begging me to answer. So I did._

_“No.” With every tear that escaped her eyes, a part of me shattered. She didn’t deserve this. She deserved so much better._

_So much better than me._

_“I know you do. Why are you doing this?” She looked angry, but her voice cracked, and more tears rolled down her cheeks._

_“You’re annoying, just accept this for what it is.” I turned from her, knowing if I had to look at her broken face one more second my resolve would give in. I couldn’t let that happen._

_“What is it?” Again, her voice was pleading._

_“It’s me breaking up with you.” I bit out the words, my chest too tight to breathe properly. I felt like I was suffocating._

_A hand grabbed my arm. “Why—”_

_“I said we’re done!” I snapped, shaking free. “Now, leave me the hell alone.”_

_I heard the sobs as I walked away, but I never turned to look at her. I couldn’t._

_Because I was crying too._

“Gajeel!” Natsu snapped his fingers in front of my face, frowning at me. “Did you hear anything I just said?”

“Wasn’t listening,” I shrugged, shaking myself out of that terrible daydream.

He crossed his arms. “I was asking if you wanted to go out with me and the guys tonight. We’re going over to that club downtown for a few drinks. You should come.” It was about the sixth time that day he had asked me that question.

“Can’t,” I said, organizing the piles of papers on my desk.

“Why not?”

“Don’t want to.”

“Come on, Gajeel, come out with us tonight!” He pleaded, leaning over my desk as I tried to finish my paperwork.

“No,” I snapped, shoving him off so I could get to the stack of documents underneath him.

“I have a ton of paperwork to finish, so I don’t have time to goof off like the rest of you.”

“That’s not fair,” Natsu frowned, “I got all my work done for the day! Besides, if you keep stressing out over stuff, you’ll give yourself grey hair.”

“I’m twenty-seven, idiot,” I grumbled, trying to ignore him, “I’m not going to get grey hair anytime soon.”

“Come on!” He continued, causing me to half-groan as he leaned back over my desk. “That pretty brunette from the grocery store is going to be there, maybe we can get you a date!”

“I don’t want a date.”

“You’re going to die alone,” he sighed, dramatically.

“Not all of us can marry our high school sweetheart, now can we?” I frowned up at him.

“No, but you _could have_ married your high school sweetheart, too,” he retorted, frowning back at me as he straightened. “And, as I recall, that was _your_ decision, so stop letting it run your life!”

I stood, gathering my paperwork and shoving it into my bag. “See you tomorrow,” I snapped, walking passed him and out the door. I heard Natsu calling as I made it to the elevator, but I ignored him and got in, punching the button for the ground floor.

“Damn bastard,” I growled, the elevator music merely grating on my nerves. Natsu knew exactly what that comment would do. He knew I hated talking about it. _About her_.

“Gajeel!” My boss, and best friend of over twenty years, smiled, ambushing me as soon as I got out of the elevator.

“Can it wait, Juvia?” I asked, knowing by the look on her face that she was going to try to talk me into something I most likely didn’t want to do.

Juvia Locksar had been just a tiny six-year-old when her family moved next door to mine when we were children. Forced into playdates thanks to our fathers becoming quick friends, I spent a lot of time with her growing up, and the two of us quickly became friends as well. Until we went to college, we were always together. When she went to an ivy-league several cities away, I went to one of the nicer universities in the city.

When we got hired at the same marketing company once we graduated, her terrific planning and communication skills quickly moved her up the ranks, and she was now the manager of our sector of the company, running most of the marketing campaigns for small businesses within the city.

“This is important,” she said, following me as I attempted to leave.

“What?” I sighed, rubbing a hand over my face.

“Juvia would like to put you on your own assignment,” she smiled.

“Juvia, I ca—”

Before I could turn down the offer, she continued, “Juvia has already informed the owner that you will be working with them, starting Monday morning, on their new campaign. They want to begin selling products in other countries, so you will also be working with a translator brought in from out of the city.”

“I have too much to do as it is,” I said, shaking my head. “Sorry, Juv, but I gotta turn ya down on this one.”

“Natsu offered to take over the work on the bakery,” Juvia told me, still smiling, her blue eyes shining in triumph. I knew I wasn’t winning this battle. “And with this opportunity comes a promotion and a pay raise. Juvia knows Gajeel has been saving up for a new motorcycle.”

I cursed, and we both knew she had me. Two months before, I had gotten into an accident and totaled the motorcycle I’d had since high school. The scars on my arm were still healing from it. But that hadn’t stopped me from wanting a new one.

“Who’s the owner?” I sighed.

She cheered, wrapping her arms around me in a hug. “Thank you, Gajeel! Juvia is so happy! It’s the owner of the Travel Agency.”

“Pantherlily?”

“That is such a strange nickname,” she snorted, “but yes. He wants to connect with other travel agencies in different countries to better network and coordinate. He asked for your help, since he knows you well, so I promised him I’d put you on the job.”

“No pressure or anything,” I smirked.

She giggled, hugging me again. “Thank you, Gajeel. Juvia will see you tomorrow after your meeting with Lily!”

“Uh-huh.”

The rest of the night passed by quickly, thanks to the pile of paperwork I still had to do before meeting with Lily the next day. He ran a travel agency that helped people plan trips all around the country. I read in the plans Juvia gave me, however, that he was hoping to expand his business to international clientele by networking with travel agencies in different countries to coordinate partnered planning.

“Good morning, Gajeel,” Lily greeted me the next morning as soon as I walked into his small building. Lily was a large man by anyone’s standards, standing two inches taller than me and broader at the shoulders. Though he was large, the man had a gentle face and a kind smile, so people took to him quickly—which made him so successful at his job.

“Morning,” I nodded. I sat my briefcase on the edge of his desk and opened it, pulling out the documents we would need to go over before we began working on finding international partners to reach out to. The translator could handle making copies of the documents in the languages of the companies we decided to reach out to.

“Translator not here yet?” I asked, not wanting to start without them.

“She called this morning,” Lily replied. “Apparently she had some trouble, so she’s running a few minutes late. She told me to apologize for her.”

“No biggie,” I shrugged.

“I’m so sorry for my tardiness!” Came a voice from the door.

I recognized the voice before I even turned around. After eight years, I would still know that voice anywhere. I spun around so quickly that I knocked my briefcase to the floor, the paper contents flying everywhere. But I couldn’t move to pick them up. Wide, hazel eyes were locked onto my red ones, and all I could do was stare, dumbfounded, at the beautiful woman in front of me—she was just as frozen in shock as I was.

Radiant. That better described her. Even after eight years, she was still just as beautiful, maybe even more so, than she had been while we were in college. My thoughts were preoccupied momentarily, however, when I heard a small whisper from behind her.

“Mama, do we get to color now?” Directly behind her stood two small boys, both holding onto her dress as they waited patiently for her to respond.

Seeming to shake herself, she smiled down at the one who had spoken, a boy with navy hair, and handed him a backpack she had been carrying. “Of course, Waylen. You and Silas go sit over there by the window while I speak with my colleagues.”

They nodded, obediently going to the window and sitting down on the floor, pulling things out of the backpack to occupy themselves.

“Now that we’re all here,” Lily said, shaking both of us out of our initial shock, “let’s get started. Gajeel, this is—”

“Levy McGarden,” I said, never taking my eyes off her beautiful face. I knew who she was; how could I forget? She had been the love of my life since I was fifteen years old, tormenting me every night for the last eight years with memories of a happier time. A time before I let her walk away.

A time before I asked her to leave.

“Hello, Gajeel.”


End file.
